"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on the great battle field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live, It is all together fitting and proper that we do this." I said, looking around the classroom as the kids started to stare at me.

Not in an 'impressive' way, but more in an 'how the heck does she know that?' way.

"But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate-we cannot consecrate-we cannot hallow-this ground. The brave men, living and dead, that struggled here, have consecrated it high above our poor power to add or detract." I continued.

Megan smiled at me in encouragement, while Conner just gave me the empty look he usually wore. He probably had it memorized too, but he hadn't offered to recite it when the teacher asked if anyone had already memorized it.

"The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced." I recited, I had to memorize this last year for school, guess Happy Harbor High was just a little bit behind compared to Xavier Institute.

"It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us-that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion-that we here highly resolve that these dead she not have died in vain-that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom-and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth." I finished.

"Very good." The teacher approved, gesturing for me to take my seat again. I walked to the back of the class, right hand corner desk. I can observe easily without being observed easily.

"Now, know it is only half the work really." He continued, "Understanding what the Gettysburg Address is about, what he really meant, that's the really brain teaser. Who wants to give it a try?"

He looked around the room, eyes resting on Conner, "How about you Kent?"

"I think it means… that he was trying to dedicate a field to them, and he's trying to praise them for their effort." He said, a bit more off-set than usual. Conner could tell you the facts easily, but when it came to his opinion, that's a bit trickier.

"That's what a lot of people think, however, it goes deeper than that. Anyone else?" he asked.

His eyes scanned the room, "Mio, since you know it so well, how about you?"

I paused, usually sitting in the back of the class meant you weren't called on unless you raised your hand.

"I think that he was trying to say… that even though he wanted to dedicate it to them, in a sense, he couldn't. He couldn't honor them any more than they had already honored themselves, by fighting for what they loved." I said slowly. "He was saying that he wasn't there to dedicate the field to them, he was there speak with the people still alive. Tell them that now they still had to fight, for the sake of the people who had already given their lives. That it was their job now."

He nodded, "You're right, and you've got a really great way of putting things. Ever consider the debate team?"

I paused, "Uh… the debate team?"

"They meet once a week on Friday an hour before school lets out for practice. They normally have a debate about once a month." He explained. "Interested?"

"… Vaguely." I said shrugging.

"Well, auditions in drama class after school tomorrow." He said, "Come if you want."

I shrugged, and the bell rang. I trudged out of class, grabbing my books from my locker, and sighing. I hated school, not because I didn't like learning, but because I just didn't have the energy for this anymore. Megan walked up to me, frowning, "Are you okay?"

"No." I said, slamming my locker shut. It didn't close if I didn't slam it, pretty bad locker.

"You wanna… skip class or something?" She asked.

I raised an eyebrow, "You, skipping class?"

"I saw… uh, saw it on TV." She explained. "It looked like harmless fun, am I wrong?"

"No, you're right." I soothed, "Just… didn't think you were the kind of girl to want to bail."

She shrugged, "You look like you need a break. Girl's night?"

I paused, I had been present at several girls nights before, with my adoptive sisters, and they were always complete chaos. To much chips and ice cream. The movies were always chick flicks, nothing that held interest for me whatsoever. However, while a girls night might not help me, but just might help Zatanna, even just a little.

"Sure. I'll bring the movies." I will put up with any cheap food they bring to this sleep over, but I will not tolerate watching any romance.

"Yay!" She said, thrilled we wouldn't be skipping class after all. "Soda and truth or dare!"

I am not going to play any games, no matter what they offer me in return. "Look Megan, I got sick ,threw up, and went home, okay?"

She nodded, "You… uh… want me to come-"

"Go uphold your perfect student record." I said, "Just make sure they know I'm sick and incapable of being at school."

I yanked my locker back open, and fumbled through the books, old tests, detention slips, and suspension warnings, to finally brush against the small piece of metal. I yanked out my key ring, with a grand total of three keys. My house key, key to my motorcycle, and finally the key to the fire/water proof chest in the back of my closet.

I kept important documents in there, and small items I didn't want to lose. I think there's few pictures, mostly of me, Logan, or Lovette. I used to keep the little wooden dragon I gave to Conner in there, when I wasn't carrying it around.

I walked out of the front doors, over to my motorcycle. I unlocked the helmet from the lock Beast had given to me for Christmas last year, tugging it on my head. Huh, Christmas was only about two months away. Had to think about what to get Lovette. Ugh, now that I have the team, I'm gonna have to get them all gifts too, on top of all my family, biological and adoptive.

All of them? My thoughts brushed against my father. Christmas was an American holiday, and although I was mostly Japanese, there was one fourth of American in there. Curse Logan for not being Japanese. My father took being a 'half-breed' a bit to far by naming himself mutt.

I shook my head, I should just be glad he didn't name me that. Not that he was the one who named me at all, wasn't there. If he was, would he have been the one to name me? What name would he have given me? Would I still have the same name- you know what? No! I am not going to spend time obsessing over what could have happened. I am not going to become what Conner is, little kid chasing after Daddies cape for approval.

My dad doesn't wear a cape though. Capes are for sissies. I paused, mounting my bike, Batman will kill me if I say that in front of him. While I'm on the subject, how many times have I died?

Let's see… I fell off the barn roof. Got thrown head first down a hill into a rock. That stupid old donkey trampled me once, took a hoof to the throat. Hydra killed me a lot, like, at least five times a week. Lets see, five times a week, for a whole year… hmm…

I took off out of the parking lot, driving towards Publix. I parked, walking up to the Red Box. I scrolled through a few, picking out The Woman in Black.

I sighed, taking the movie and walking towards where I parked, when a scent brushed my nose. I looked up, seeing someone, not only standing way to close to my bike, but leaning on it. I growled, realizing who it was.

I know he heard me, and I know he knew it was me. He stiffened at first, hearing me, but then relaxed, and I heard him chuckle. He wore white boot cut jeans with a long sleeved black shirt under a red sport coat. That's the way he always dressed, not the particular clothes he was wearing, but the style to them.

Logan had always dressed relaxed, casual. Laura tended to switch it up a lot, but it was normally really tight jeans and a nice t-shirt. Daken, he was always dressed up, kind of fancy, almost all the time. I wouldn't say it annoyed me, just made me think sometimes about why he did. Romulus, from what I've read, didn't seem to be the type to be a fashionista, and he certainly didn't inherit this habit from Logan. Itsu, maybe that was the answer, but I've never met her so I can't make that call.

A woman in a blue sundress passed him, smiling and look at him out of the corner of her eye. He nodded to her, and she suppressed a giggle, waving in a flirty manner. He chuckled, and I knew what he was thinking. He wasn't interested in her, not in the way she was thinking anyway.

Why would someone put affection towards someone like that? Why would they commit to someone who had o interest, someone who would kill them just for a laugh? That's what he would do, probably what he was restraining himself from. I know the signs, tense muscles, biting the inside of your cheek, the twitch of the left ankle. I know that's what these slight movements signify because it's what I do. Behavior is genetic, and I could be angry about it, I could deny every fact of similarity between us, but I won't.

I growl again, wishing that that simple act would scare him off, but it doesn't. I know it doesn't. I've lost count of all the times I've growled at him in anger or frustration, but all this noise does it let him know I'm angry, but he already knows that. Why do I fall back into this action constantly? Is it nothing but human nature, retreating to simplicity? It is a habit developed which can be easily broken? Or is this merely the animal that everyone in my family has, resorting to the instinct of warning before attacking?

I approach him slowly, this was the last thing I wanted to deal with today, but at the same time, it's just what I need. A break away from the cycle my life has become over these last few weeks. School, den mother, home, sleep. Day after day. Even weekends weren't holding an relief for me, or spring break.

"Get off my bike." I ordered.

He turned around, pretending to be surprised, as if I had appeared out of nowhere. He smiled, coming out of his fake façade and throwing his arms open, gesturing for a hug. "Mio!"

I glare at him, "Leave me alone."

We both know that's not what I want, I want a fight, a struggle, action. He just smirks, dropping his arms and pretending to be hurt. "No hug for Daddy?"

"For the umpteenth time, I do not consider you my father." I stressed. It's true that I don't. he is nothing like the stereotypical father, but then again, hardly anyone was these days.

"How long you gonna keep holing onto that branch?" He asked.

"I'm not holding onto a branch, I'm stating fact. You've done nothing remotely fatherly to me my entire life. You've scared me for life, both figuratively and literally." I reminded, gesturing to my stomach. For a moment, I see guilt cross his features, before the mask is back on.

He chuckles, "I was pretty surprised you survived that actually. First time I gutted you, I knew you would make it-"

"You gut me in the forest floor." I reminded him. "I had to tell Lovette to run, you would have let her watch, and God only knows what you would have done to her when you were finished."

"Let her cry over your mangled body." He snapped, "I wouldn't hurt a four year old."

"You were going to let her watch as you ripped out my internal organs and let me bleed out on the forest floor." I snapped. "Yeah Daken, that's not harming her in any way at all. You're a freakin' saint!"

He gave me a look, "Watch your mouth."

"No." I snapped. "I'm tired of doing everything you tell me to do. I'm tired of being afraid of you. I'm tired of running."

"You haven't run form me in a long time." He said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.

"You've grown." He said quietly, I can't tell if that's the answer to the question, or he's just thinking out loud.

"One inch this year." I commented dryly, walking to the other side of my motorcycle. "What do you want?"

"To help you." He said, and that's what caught me off guard.

"I don't need help." I said, "I've got my own back covered."

"You're stuck." He disagreed. "You used to improve at quite honestly, an alarming rate. I was sure by now, you would have been so much stronger than myself, Logan, or Logan's little clone lab rat."

I paused, before something in my brain, clicked. Slid right into place, like gears in a clock. I launched myself at him, digging my claws into each shoulder, pinning each arm down with a foot, shoving down with all my weight, breaking his wrists. I wiggled my own wrists, blood seeping out of his shoulders and he grimaced, before smirking up at me, "There it is."

There's the anger he's been waiting for, the spring in my step that I've tried to shake off. "Don't you dare talk about my Aunt like that."

He laughed, "You consider her your Aunt? That clone?"

"Seems I've been getting attached to clones lately." I mumbled, before yanking out my claws and getting off of him.

"Yeah, Superman's little oops moment." Daken laughed, standing up, "Don't get attached to him."

"You have no right to tell me who to consider a friend." I sassed, scooping up the dropped movie and mounting my bike. "You hold no significance in my life."

He grabbed my arm, keeping me from leaving, from driving as far as I could to get away from him. "I'm your father."

"In genes only." I countered. "If you name one thing you've done for me in my life, one thing at all, that I can consider fatherly with no strings attached, something you did without a double reason in mind, then I'll take it all back. I'll admit you're my father, and I'll even start calling you that. I'll never say a negative thing about you."

He paused, not saying anything.

"Go on, prove me wrong." I ordered.

Silence.

"That's what I thought." I said, grabbing the clutch.

"Let them go." He ordered.

"What?"

"Everyone you care about." He demanded. "Let them all go. You will never get stronger if you're tied down."

I paused, cutting the ignition and shoving him away from the bike, getting off of it. "Okay, so what you're telling me is that I'll fight better if I'm not fighting for anything? That I'll be better if I grow up to be as unfeeling as you, a hollow shell of a man?"

"The more you care, the more you risk-"

"Then that makes you a coward." I interjected. "But I'm not going down like that. I'm not going to be remembered like you, someone who couldn't let go."

He shook his head, "You can't avoid it, you will be like me. No one with you, no one who cares."

"You're not that far gone!" I snapped. "You could still reform, you could be good if you wanted, there's still hope and you know it!"

He laughed, "Little girl wants to save her Daddy, isn't that cute."

I growled, and he laughed again, "So cute. And so much like me."

"I'm nothing like-"

He backhanded me harshly, "Do not lie to me!"

I grabbed my face, pausing, face tilted to the side for a moment, staring to my right in shock. He had hit before, but this felt… different. I slowly looked at him, holding the spot where he had hit me, left cheek bone, right below the eye.

"Look at yourself, take a good long look." He ordered. "Besides the physical appearance, which is evidence enough to condemn you to becoming me, you're just like me, manipulator. You've got everyone on that team wrapped around your finger, and you know it. Each and everyone one of them would lay down their lives for you, go to war for you. You've got them eating out of your hand, and I have to say, I'm very impressed, proud even."

He chuckled, shaking his head, "Chip off the old block."

"I'm not manipulating." I said firmly. "I'm not scheming, and I'd really prefer if they just left me alone."

He paused, raising an eyebrow, so I continued. "I'm not using pheromones, not controlling anybody. I don't have them eating out of my hand, you know why?"

He rolled his eyes, "Indulge me."

"Because I'd do the same for them." I said firmly. "Any of them. They're my family. Although that annoys me to no end in the area of Christmas shopping, it feels… good. I'm happy, and I'm not gonna let you screw it up for me."

He tilted his head to the side, as if curious about something, but he never asked whatever he was wondering.

"If you'll excuse me, I have to attend a ceremony as old as time itself." I mumbled.

He gave me a quizzical look, and I shrugged, "Megan called for a girls night."

He laughed, just threw his head back and laughed for awhile, and I drove off.

DAKEN'S POINT OF VIEW:

I smiled as she rode off, the laughter dying down to a chuckle. "Have fun cub."

She won't admit it, probably go to her grave denying it, but she's just like me, in nearly every way. I bit my lip a little, looking over my shoulder, to see the woman from earlier, smirking at me mischievously from a nice looking silver Ferrari.

She raised an eyebrow quizzically, and I shrugged to myself, walking over. Why not?

I climbed in shotgun, and she smiled, pulling out of the parking lot. "My place or yours?"

"Your's." I answered.

"Did you know that kid back there?" She asked.

"My daughter." I answered, not bothering to hide the slight pride in my voice. She wasn't around, I didn't have to watch what I said.

"Oh… you're not…?"

"I'm single." I answered.

She smiled suggestively, "Good."